More with more: ACCC announces bumper compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025-26

What you need to know

• The ACCC has announced 12 compliance and enforcement priorities for the year ahead.
• The ACCC continues to prioritise sectors and conduct that have a significant impact on cost of living and the cost of doing business including sectors such as aviation, supermarkets and essential services.
• The ACCC has expanded its areas of concern for 2025. Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs are a new focus while compliance and enforcement activities in the supermarket and broader retail sectors will be enhanced.
• While not a specific compliance and enforcement priority, the ACCC has highlighted that the successful implementation of the new merger control regime will also be an important focus for the ACCC in 2025 and 2026.

What you need to do

• Consider if your compliance systems and processes remain 'fit for purpose' in light of the ACCC's increasingly vigorous approach to compliance and enforcement.
• Look out for upcoming consultations on the ACCC's draft merger process and draft analytical guidelines as well as ACCC guidelines on the transitional arrangements.

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has announced the agency's compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025-26 at her annual keynote speech at the Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA), on 20 February 2025. In this briefing we look at the ACCC's priorities for the upcoming year, including highlighting what is new and notable.

In summary:

• The ACCC's ten key priorities for 2024 will continue into 2025. The ACCC has enhanced / broadened the scope of some priorities including those relating to misleading pricing practices, environmental claims and unfair contract terms.
• The ACCC has also included two additional priorities for the upcoming year. These relate to misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs; and competition, consumer, fair trading and pricing concerns in the retail sectors.

Enhanced 2024 priorities

Supermarket and broader retail sectors

The ACCC continues to emphasise the important role that robust competition and consumer compliance and enforcement can play in helping to ease cost of living pressures in Australia.
In last year's priorities, the ACCC addressed competition, consumer, fair trading and pricing concerns in the supermarket sector, with a focus on food and groceries. This year, the supermarket sector will remain a focus but the ACCC has expanded this priority to include the retail sector more broadly and has split this priority into two separate priorities. One relates to competition issues in the supermarket and retail sector, focusing on firms with market power and conduct that impacts small business. The other concerns consumer and fair trading issues in these sectors, with a focus on misleading pricing practices. These enhanced priorities reflect the additional $30 million funding the Australian Government allocated to the ACCC – to be delivered over 3 and a half years – for dedicated investigations and enforcement activities to address competition and consumer concerns in the supermarket and broader retail sector.

Others - unfair contract terms, environmental claims and the digital economy

In relation to unfair contract terms in consumer and small business contracts, the ACCC has included more specificity, adding that the focus of this priority will be on harmful cancellation terms, including those associated with automatic renewals, early termination fee clauses and non-cancellation clauses. For the priority relating to environmental claims and sustainability, the ACCC has specified that its focus will be on greenwashing. Finally, in relation to the digital economy, the ACCC has added a new focus concerning unsafe consumer products

New priority for 2025

Following $2.1 million of new funding to the ACCC in 2024 to tackle excessive card surcharging, the ACCC has added misleading surcharging practices and other add on costs has a new priority for 2025. In the CEDA speech, the ACCC Chair indicated the ACCC will focus on increasing business compliance with the excessive card payment surcharging prohibition and improving pricing practices to ensure all add on costs are appropriately disclosed.

Focus on implementation of new merger regime

While not a specific compliance and enforcement priority for the upcoming year, the ACCC Chair identified the successful implementation of the merger control regime as a key focus for 2025 and 2026. The regime is set to come into effect from 1 January 2026 and the ACCC has stated that over the next few weeks it will be engaging in consultation processes on its draft process guidelines and draft analytical guidelines as well as releasing guidelines on transitional arrangements. The detail of the transitional arrangements will be particularly important for deals taking place this year. The ACCC also highlighted the important role of enforcement in the new regime, and has made a clear statement that it will take enforcement action against mergers that fail to be notified including serial acquisitions.

Full list of ACCC 2025-2026 compliance and enforcement priorities

• Competition issues in the supermarket and retail sector, focusing on firms with market power and conduct that impacts small business.
• Consumer and fair trading concerns in the supermarket and retail sectors, with a focus on misleading pricing practices.
• Promoting competition in essential services with a focus on telecommunications, electricity and gas.
• Misleading pricing and claims in relation to essential services, with a particular focus on energy and telecommunications.
• Competition and consumer issues in the aviation sector.
• Competition, product safety, consumer and fair trading issues in the digital economy, with a focus on misleading or deceptive advertising within influencer marketing, online reviews, in-app purchases and unsafe consumer products.
• Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs.
• Consumer, fair trading and competition concerns in relation to environmental claims and sustainability, with a focus on greenwashing.
• Unfair contract terms in consumer and small business contracts, with a focus on harmful cancellation terms, including those associated with automatic renewals, early termination fee clauses and non-cancellation clauses.
• Improving industry compliance with consumer guarantees, with a focus on consumer electronics.
• Improving compliance by NDIS providers with their obligations under Australian Consumer Law.
• Consumer product safety issues for young children, with a focus on compliance with button battery standards and raising awareness about new infant sleep and toppling furniture standards.

Want to know more?

Merger reforms passed by Australian Parliament (9 November 2024)

Other Authors: Aroon Parthasarathy, Graduate.